NFL Combine: Linebackers
Taking a look at some worthy performances.
One of the most engaging times of the year for those of you who are like me and enjoy following along the NFL draft process, maybe even doing some of your own player scouting. Maybe this is the start of you following a long. Now we’re all along the ride until the NFL draft when we get to see where these guys land.
The combine brings us the 40-yard dash times, the explosive jumping tests, and the agility drills to show us what kind of athlete you might be. Along with physical testing, we get to see these best of the best athletes who had to be individually invited compete in on field drills side by side, one after another to help get a vision of how some of these guys stack up against each other or even raise awareness to some smaller school players who can fly under the radar.
We’re going to take a look at each position group leading up to the NFL draft and see who could have potentially boosted their draft stock or put themselves on the map with their combine performances. We’re going to see a variety of player body types, talk about why this performance is important for them and how it could give signs to how they’ll excel in their projected and maybe even expanded NFL role.
Starting with the Linebacker class, lets dive in.
Sonny Styles
I know. I know. How could a guy like Sonny Styles, an already elite prospect in this draft, boosts his draft stock? Well, his film already showed us he’s an extremely explosive and fluid athlete. This outrageous combine performance by Sonny Styles just confirmed it. Off ball linebacker is typically an undervalued position in the draft due to the salary comparison of NFL linebackers to more premium positions like edge, offensive tackle, quarterback, wide receiver. Given that, there’s been a lot of buzz surrounding the draft range of Sonny Styles. Is it top five? Top 10? Will he go into the teens? Well, I think we got our answer. After his performance in Indianapolis, I think there’s a very good chance Sonny Styles cemented himself in the top five, top ten at minimum. Let’s take a look at his RAS card brought to you by @Mathbombs on X. The athletic ability Sonny Styles brings to the table is extremely important at his size, leaving his role in the NFL open to variety. A true force multiplier on the field.
Jacob Rodriguez
The media overview on Rodriguez seemed pretty split down the middle. His film shows instincts at the linebacker position that you can’t deny, but what caliber of athlete is he really? Well Jacob Rodriguez answered. He showed us he’s a very worthy athlete. Coming in with one of the better RAS scores at the position excelling in all categories. To me this performance boosted his stock regardless of what your initial thoughts were on him. If you were thinking somewhere in day two of the draft, you’ve probably settled down closer into the top forty or fifty players. If you were already thinking he’s in the top forty to fifty players, you might think there’s a chance he could slip into that pick twenty-eight or later range. Rodriguez RAS score shows us he has not only the instincts we see on tape, but he has NFL range and movement to cement a role as a three-down contributor.
Jack Kelly
Jack Kelly is a player who’s been flying more on the under the radar side of things. What Kelly showed us in Indy could lead us to believe there’s more to him than the mainstream media is aware of. Bolstering a great 9.81 RAS score without skipping the agility drills, Jack Kelly has a floor of being a high-level special teams’ contributor while showing us he has every bit of movement skills to carve out a role on meaningful downs. Kelly is hovering just shy of the top 150 players, though this performance could easily push him closer to the 115-130 range.
Namdi Obiazor
Obiazor is certainly a name you won’t recognize unless you are a TCU fan or are deep into the NFL draft scouting trenches. He showed out, leaving his name toward the top of the charts in almost every testing category proving he has the NFL athleticism to carve out a long-term special teams’ role, potentially even getting into the playing rotation. Obiazor doesn’t have a lot of draft buzz at the moment floating around the priority undrafted free agent range. This combine could have raised awareness to teams that he could be worth a late day three pick versus fighting the frenzy for the UDFA’s.